this may be more than what you wanted to know, god knows its more than i
intended to write. but i found that i couldn't leave this or that out. it's
by no means all inclusive or authoritative. just my take on the beginnings
of this wonderful era in music.
experiments with phonographs were performed in the 30s by hindemith and
toch. however, there really was no form applied to them, they were just
groupings of sound. in the late 40s, pierre henri began to record these
groupings of sounds and strategically placing them within a formal
construct. henri called his music process concrete because he saw it as a
"concrete" way of moulding sounds directly into a performance without the
vagueness of music notation and live performance. others say that he hoped
to revolutionize music the way concrete revolutionized architecture.
the starting piece for the genre is usually considered to be henri and
schaeffer's _symphonie pour un homme seul_ (1950), although henri had been
"performing" his electronic studies since 1948. _variations pour une porte
et un soupir_ wasn't written until 1963, a much later point in the genre,
even though it's one of his most cited works. it's also in my opinion one
of the greatest.
there is a distinction between musique concrete and electronic music. music
concrete is generally music using sampled ambient, for lack of a better
word, sound whereas electronic uses synthesized sounds. at that time,
though, both genres constructed pieces through tape recording, as computer
manipulation of sounds was quite a while away, making the processes, and the
resulting pieces, somewhat similar in sound. furthermore, true musique
concrete was very short lived. with the exception of henri and schaeffer,
many composers found the results unsatisfying. in 1951 the germans and the
french simultaneously began experimenting with electronic sounds and soon
after the two genres combined, creating a sort of uber-genre that realized
the full possibility of both created and natural sounds. excepting the years
between the late 40s and the mid 50s, true musique concrete is a rare find.
i don't think anyone has mentioned stockhausen's _gesang der junglinge_.
(1956). it's generally considered the first sucessful union of musique
concrete and electronic music. hard to describe, a recording of a boy
reading from the bible, i believe, is put through the usual tape
manipulations and combined with purely electronic (i.e. synthesized) sounds.
makes an impressive listen.
other notable works include the amazing _thema: omaggio a joyce_ (1958) by
luciano berio, henri and schaeffer's controversial opera _orpheus_ (1953)
and varese's _deserts_ (1954). stockhausen's _kontakte_ (1960) as well.
the american take was somewhat different in that they seemed to rely mostly
on recorded musical instruments which were manipulated. the idea was to
surpass the physical limitations of the instrument by manipulating
recordings of their sounds. notable are luening's _low speed_ or
ussachevsky's _sonic contours_. the european counterpart to this american
style was xenakis, most notably _orient-occident_ (1960).
and finally, there was john cage. he combined chance with the
concrete+electronic idea in _williams mix_ (1952). however, he didn't really
manipulate the sounds as he was more interested in being completely
unbiased and letting chance form the piece.
for a more modern perspective, the work of german bands such as einsturzende
neubauten is very reminiscent of the sound of some of the early concrete and
electronic works, however with a more 80s punk asthetic.
as for where to find this stuff, most universities with a music library
worth anything will have these recordings available for listening and
sometimes even check-out. for further ideas, check the list of reserved
recordings for whatever variant of 20th century music history/literature the
university is offering.
frank
--
Fuerunt mihi lacrimae meae panis die ac nocte
frank jimenez
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